SpiderMan & Songbird: Brand New Day
by The Amazing Shrinking Violet
Summary: A different take on the recent "Brand New Day" storyline/event, where things turned out differently in Spider-Man's new life without Mary Jane...and things seem to be better than before, so far. But what else has changed?


The Amazing Spider-Man & Songbird

In

"Brand New Day"

Chapter One: New Beginnings

Disclaimer: The characters in this fanfic are not my property, but rather the property of the Marvel Comics group and related holdings. I am merely borrowing them to tell this story, and express the occasional opinion. Spider-Man is not my property, nor are any of his enemies.

Author's Note: This is not a satire of the current Spider-Man books, but rather my take on what could've been, in a somewhat ideal world of my choosing. Don't hate me for it.

* * *

It was a pleasantly mild day in New York City, and in one of many apartment buildings, a married couple was just moving in. The husband was one Peter Parker, former freelance photographer and current high school science teacher, and he was carrying a particularly heavy box. "Ugh…what is in this thing?" He griped, carrying the box into the living room area of the apartment, and promptly dropped it with a bang, and blinked a few times. "Hey, hon? What's in this box?" He looked at the box, and turned it over, and looked at the sides. "Doesn't say…"

"Those are my text books, sweetheart…" came the voice of his wife of the past two years, who walked in wearing a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a tank top, her long white hair flowing over her back, and her red bangs obscuring her eyes for a moment, before brushing them out of the way. This was Songbird/Melissa Joan Gold-Parker, formerly referred to as Screaming Mimi/Mimi Schwartz. The two of them wore gold bands on their ring fingers, signifying their union. Peter looked up from where he was crouched, and smiled a bit as he stood, and walked over to his wife, taking her into his arms and hugging her. "What's gotten into you? Not that I mind…"

"I just had a strange feeling…and found myself thinking on how different my life would be without you..." He said softly, running his fingers through her hair, as she rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes some.

"I know…I've wondered myself what things would be like…" she said herself, sighing a bit as she ran her fingers along his muscled chest, and tilting her head into his hand. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is the here and now…and that I love you, and you love me. Right?"

"Right…" he smiled, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and then grinned a bit. "Hey…wasn't that the last box…?" She caught the look in his eye, and laughed a bit, nodding as she leaned back a bit.

"Why, I do believe it was, Mr. Parker. Why do you ask? You have something in mind?" She said, teasingly, as he lifted up her tank top, and unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the floor as he lifted her up with his strong arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as she kicked her shoes off, and kissed him on the lips, holding his head in her hands. "Mmm…I like the way you think."

* * *

About two hours later, one naked and very exhausted Melissa was laying atop her equally as naked husband in their new bed, the two soaked in sweat, panting and groaning from the pleasurable experience they had still shared, though her husband probably had still more energy to spare, though he still looked rather worn out herself. She placed a kiss on his damp lips, chuckling a bit, holding his chin in her right hand.

"What's so funny, Mel?"

"That look on your face, every time we finish making love…It's so adorable…" She teased, snuggling up against him with her arms around his waist, while he rolled his brown eyes, and placed his chin on the top of her head.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. Keep it up and I'll sleep on the couch," he shot back, good-naturedly, prompting her to snicker and poke him in the chest.

"Oh, sure you will. You know you can't keep your hands off me, Mr. Parker. You're like a horny schoolboy."

"Oooh, you used the H-word…I'm telling…" he said, teasingly, pulling her up closer to him and hugging her tightly to him, taking a deep breath as he did. "Damn, I feel sore…"

"Oh, _you're_ sore?" she said, almost sarcastically, placing her hands on his chest and rolling on top of him, groaning a bit as she did. "Ugh…I'm the one who ends up the worse for the wear after we spend some 'quality time' together, remember?"

"Heh…sorry, hon." He rubbed the back of his head, kissing her on the forehead and placing his hands on her backside, sitting up with her still on top of him, her legs going back around his waist. "How're you feeling now?"

"Oh, I feel pretty good…this was only a problem when we started dating two years ago…"

"I remember I had to carry you into the bathtub, turn on the hot water, and add bath soaps before you could even stand up again." She rolled her eyes at that, and put her arms around his neck, blinking a few times.

"Ugh, don't remind me…those nights were pure torment…but I didn't mind, as long as you were with me…" Melissa smiled, kissing him lightly on the lips, stroking his hair lovingly as she kept the kiss going for several moments, before, after a minute, breaking it and groaning as she pulled away from him. "C'mon…get up, lazy. We got boxes to unpack…"

"Oh, come on? You're kidding, right? After what we just did, I can't even sit down without getting tired…" he started to complain, then saw the mischievious glint in her eyes. "You ARE kidding…"

"Yup…you think I'm going to get out of bed? No thank you…I'm staying right here for the next three hours, and you're staying with me. We're going to take a nap…we were patrolling all night…"

"I'm sorry…I know that's not how you like to spend your nights…"

"It's not that…I enjoy spending my time with you, you know that. I'm just a bit tired from that bust we made last night…and your ravaging me didn't help matters any…" Melissa teased her husband again, before disengaging from him and falling back onto the bed, pulling the sheets over herself and plopping her head down on the nearest pillow, yawning loudly. "I don't know how you can manage to stay up so much…" Peter laughed softly at that, and reached down to pat her on the lower back, kissing her cheek and laying down next to her with a soft groan of his own.

"Right now I'm running on fumes, Mel. I don't think I could even manage to get my costume on, let alone run around the city getting stuff thrown at me or fighting another of my stupid villains…" he groaned, pulling his pillow down over his head, as he yawned as well and settled down to get some rest.

"Let's just get some sleep…" she moaned, tired. With a tired nod, her husband nodded, and both settled off to a deep sleep.

* * *

The Parkers were sleeping away peacefully, though Peter was snoring a bit, Melissa groaning in her sleep as she tried to block out the sound of her husband, before a sudden buzzing sound woke her up with a fright. "AGH! Jesus!" she breathed, eyes wide for a moment and a thin fear-sweat breaking out on her body, goosebumps raising on her flesh for a few moments, before she fell back against the bed with a curse. Another few moments later, her husband cried out as he bolted upright, shortly after she did, and looked around, startled.

"What the hell?!" He said, breathing rapidly, before Melissa threw their third pillow at the alarm clock set in the corner of the room, dampening the sound, prompting Peter to fall back against the bed and groan. "Why did we set that thing?"

"To make sure we'd finish packing on time…'cept one of us got a little frisky and derailed our plans somewhat…" she said, not quite sourly, but not entirely happily either, as she slid out of the bed, and exited the bedroom, picking up her shirt from the floor and pulling it on with a groan, before running a hand through her now-messy hair, a sour look on her face as she went to the nearest box – there were at least fifteen of them, not including luggage bags – and opened it, and began taking out textbooks and novels, and began putting them in the nearest bookshelf, while her husband pulled on his pants and came out after a few more moments, a tired look still on his face as he blinked at her with bleary eyes. She gave him a glance, and huffed a bit. "Don't give me that look, Pete. We've got to unpack before we go on patrol…otherwise this stuff'll be around the floor and one of us will trip over it when we're not paying attention or the light is off."

He made a mock-whine sound, and gave her his best puppy dog eyes, only for him to receive her discarded bra to his face. "Oooph!" he said, out of reflex, standing there with the undergarment hanging from his forehead, prompting her to start laughing at him, and pointing. He removed it, and gave her a look, before rolling his eyes and smiling a bit. "Oh, gee Mel, thanks. I really needed that." He tossed the bra, and his wife's jeans, onto the nearest chair – the furniture had already been moved in by the movies they had hired, as had a number of other boxes, the couple dealing mainly with the luggage they had to carry, which numbered about six bags, most of them Melissa's things, including her costume pieces and harness, while Peter's bags were neatly packed with spare clothes, and the occasional extra costume or two – one of which was his old red and blue, the other his black and white, and even, as a momento, his Thunderbolts costume, a red, black, and purple affair similar to Jolt's, though without the jagged bits on the front (He only kept it because Melissa kept her old costumes, even her Screaming Mimi one – it took him forever to convince her to wear it again, which lead to some pretty interesting roleplay that night…). "Fine, I'll help…" He shrugged as he opened another box, and took out a number of DVD cases, all of them popular movies of various genres, such as horror, romantic comedies, and other things. As he finished stacking them in the entertainment centre, he dug back in the box and began putting the various box sets they had in the next shelf, until the entire box's contents were unloaded into the shelves.

"Oh, sure, you get the easy one…meanwhile I have to lug around these books," Melissa said, mock-sourly, finishing with her box as well, and moving to the next. "Hey, where's our blender?"

"I…uh…put it in one of these boxes…heh…" he said, going a bit red in the face as his wife narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"You what?! Did you even mark the box?!" she asked, incredulously, before shaking her head and putting a hand to her forehead. "Ugh…I don't know why I ask you to help me sometimes, honestly…half the time you're only good as a packmule…" she said, in an amused fashion, as she began opening boxes, and taking out various items – stuffed animals, more books, and, finally, the kitchen implements. She put the silverware into a drawer in the kitchen, then began unloading the blender, the can opener, and other such items, placing them in various places on the countertops, before going back, and taking out the rest of their bedsheets, and ultimately tossing that into the bedroom with a grunt. "Gah…why do we have so many things?"

"Uhm…you're the one who bought most of this stuff, Mel."

"Because we haven't had the time to get YOUR stuff in here, Peter." She shot back, grinnig a bit as she sat down on their couch, getting comfortable and eyeing the blank spot where the TV would go. "Did we happen to bring the television with us? I was hoping to catch something tonight…like…I dunno…wrestling…"

"I don't know what you see in that stuff, honestly. If you wanna see guys in tights beating the crap out of each other, just go out on patrol." Her husband said, amused, as he began rooting around the remaining boxes, trying to find the one their TV was in, before finding it stuffed under a table. "…Don't know how that got there…" he murmured to himself as he picked it up with a soft grunt, brought it over, and began connecting the television set into the cable jack and A/V jacks, setting up their DVD player as well. "There? Happy?"

"Much, thanks." She smiled again, settling back as she motioned for him to toss the TV remote to her, which he did, and she hit the power switch, and began flicking through the channels. "And in case you forgot, mister, I made my living as a pro-wrestler…"

"When you weren't moonlighting as a supervillian, I know," he said, rolling his eyes as he sat next to her, his arms behind the chair as he groaned. "Not a chick flick…please not a chick flick…"

"Oh, like Adam Sandler movies are any better?"

"Well, at least they're funny…"

"To someone with a lowbrow sense of humor, maybe."

"Oh, you cut me to the quick…" her husband mocked groaned, closing his eyes and sticking his tongue out as he put his hands to his chest, pretending to be dying, causing her to begin giggling, until she shoved him off of her when he slumped against her.

"Ack! Get off! You're heavy…" She mock-strained, as he righted himself and he rolled his eyes at her. "I think you're getting fat, honey…"

"Fat? I'm not fat…"

"Sure you're not…"

"Have you checked out this bod?" He flexed, exaggeratedly, making her giggle again. "Pure muscle, nothin' but."

"I've seen bigger," she shrugged, noncommittally, prompting him to start tickling her. "Eeeeek! Q-quit it!" She began to giggle uncontrollably, attempting to push her husband's hands away, though considering that he had proportionate spider-strength, her own unimpressive arm strength would do little to dislodge him if he didn't want to be dislodged. And so, he kept tickling, until, finally, he stopped, his wife now red-faced and panting, still giggling and laughing, breathing hard. "You jerk!" she panted, punching him in the arm while still getting over her giggle-fit. "You know I hate to be tickled like that!"

"I know, but you're so cute when you giggle…" he shrugged, smiling, and putting an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close to him and resting his head against hers, the two relaxing a bit and enjoying the close proximity they were sharing to on another. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and tilted her head a bit. "What? What's that look mean?"

"I hate to say this, but we have to get out and patrol for a couple of hours…otherwise you'd go overboard tomorrow…and we still have to meet up with the other New Avengers, and figure out what to do next…"

"I'm just glad nearly everyone else forgot who I was…" her husband smiled to her, kissing her lovingly on the lips and holding her close, before removing his arm from around her, and standing up, sliding out of his jeans, pulling on another pair of boxers, and then pulling on his black and white costume, while Melissa undid a clothes case, and pulled out some simple, plain underwear, pulling them on before removing her shirt and getting into her own costume with a grunt.

"Yeah…it's amazing how fickle the public mind is…" she nodded, remembering at the last minute to put her bra back on, to keep herself from bouncing around too much, and finished getting her bodysuit on, and then put on her arm bands, and the other metal parts to her costume, including the carapace apparatus that gave her the power to make objects out of solid sound, fixing her hair in a nearby wall mirror before she opened the window of their apartment, and flew outside, singing up a pair of solid sound wings, her most simplest construct, motioning for her husband to follow after her, which he did, jumping out the window as he pulled his mask into place, and began to freefall, until he reached just the right spot, and fired off a webline, and began swinging from building to building, Songbird flying right behind him with a soft smile on her face, keeping close enough to him to be safe, but not too close to distract him or anything.

"Come on, try to keep up, 'bird! Otherwise you'll get left behind!" Her life partner quipped as he began to pick up the pace, pushing himself to his limits as he began to do little flips in midair, prompting the red and white haired woman to roll her eyes as she veered a left and followed him.

"Don't be a smart-ass, Spidey…or you really will be sleeping on the couch tonight…and every other night for the next two weeks." She said, grinning a bit as she kept up after him, while her husband sighed with a bit of defeat.

"Jeeze, hon…That's mean."

"I know…" she said, teasingly, doing a barrel-roll as she passed by him, prompting Spider-Man to pick up the pace of his swings again, doing his best to keep up with his wife, who, he had to admit, had better aerial maneuverability than he had with his webs and muscles, which were still somewhat taxed from their earlier 'quality time'.

After a few moments of this, he began to angle his webs down lower, approaching ten feet above street level, just passing by civilians, who, startled, would either curse at him rather loudly, or cheer and wave – reactions to him, thanks to a certain bristling newsman, would always be mixed, and not even joining the Avengers would fix that…and the criticism he took for joining the Thunderbolts and joining in on their trek across the states before settling down in Colorado still annoyed him…but then again, Jonah wouldn't know tact if it up and bit him on the ass. With that mental image, the costumed man chuckled, before his wife passed by him again. "Oh, now come on! This isn't a race, 'bird! You're gonna wear me out you keep this up!"

"Heh…that's kind of the idea, webhead. This is what you get for making me so sore…"

"You said it wasn't any problem!"

"Yeah, but I love to see the look on your face…even if I can't actually see your face," she said, teasingly, as her husband settled down for another night of banter and teases, a rueful smile on his face under his mask.

* * *

End Notes: And so ends chapter one. You're probably wondering how this coupling came to be, and why Spider-Man's history seems to be different regarding the Thunderbolts. That will be explained in the next chapter, which will be extra long, for that purpose, as well as set up for future events, in this alternate Brand New Day storyline.


End file.
